Resource Spotlight: Water Safety with Miss Dayna

Resource Spotlight: Water Safety with Miss Dayna

Water Safety with Miss Dayna is a program that teaches families about staying safe around water.  Miss Dayna is an AutismSwim certified swimming instructor who has created tools, like her “Watching Initiative,” to help autistic people stay safe near pools, lakes, rivers, and oceans.

Who is Miss Dayna?

Dayna Harvey is a water safety expert and swim instructor who has been teaching children to swim for more than 35 years.  She has lived around water her whole life and became interested in water safety for autistic people after a trip she took in 2022.  On her trip, she visited 450 childcare centers from Virginia to New Mexico and noticed that none of them shared water safety information for families affect by autism.

This inspired her to create a simple and proactive way to teach water safety. To make learning fun, she created the “Waiting Whale Family,” a group of friendly characters that help children and families learn confidence, safety routines, and life-saving strategies like the “Watch-Wait-Swim” method.

Miss Dayna earned her AutismSwim certification and teaches many neurodivergent students. While teaching, she realized that simply telling autistic children to “wait” wasn’t enough. So, she designed the Waiting Whales Safety Kit, which uses visual aids and routines to teach water safety. This kit has helped many autistic children—and even non-autistic students—learn important water safety rules.

To learn more about Miss Dayna and water safety, you can visit her website here!  You can order a Waiting Whales Safety Kit here.

Miss Dayna’s “Watching Initiative” for Water Safety

Miss Dayna’s Watching Initiative gives families clear steps for keeping autistic kids safe near water. The word WATCHING stands for:

• W – Who is CPR Certified?
  Caregivers should make sure at least one adult nearby knows CPR in case of an emergency.
• A – Assign a Waiting Area
  Autistic kids do better with clear boundaries and set spots to wait near water.
• T – Touch and Active Watching
  Stay close, give reminders, and use visual cues to help kids stay safe.
• C – Cell Phones Down
  Caregivers need to give their full attention and actively watch children near water.
• H – Have Proper Life Jackets
  Life jackets are required in open water like lakes, rivers, or oceans. In pools, the decision about personal flotation devices (PFDs) depends on the situation.
• I – Install Barriers
  Use gates, locks, and alarms around pools or other water areas to slow down and alert caregivers if a child wanders.
• N – Never Leave Without Checking Entry Points
  Always lock or secure doors, bathrooms, or pool areas after use to prevent wandering.
• G – Get Swim Lessons
  If possible, sign kids up for specialized lessons with an AutismSwim-certified instructor. If lessons aren’t available, safely practice water routines and teach the key phrase: “Where there is water, I will wait!”

Ways to Teach Water Safety to Autistic Kids

To make water safety easier to learn, Miss Dayna created the “Waiting Whales Water Safety Kit.” This kit is especially helpful for autistic children because it uses visual cues, interactive activities, and fun routines.

The Waiting Whales Water Safety Kit includes:

• Waiting Whale Mat
• Blue “Wait Here” Tape
• Red “Closed” Tape for blocking off water areas
• Strategies for Parents, including a 30-minute education video and ongoing email support
• Fun for Kids, like coloring sheets and Waiting Whale activities

The main safety message the kit teaches kids is:
“Where there is water, I will wait!”

That means that when kids are near water, they will wait for their caregiver to tell them its okay to go in.  Learning this motto keeps kids from going into water when its not safe for them to do so.  Miss Dayna hopes that learning this motto will keep autistic people from going into water when there isn’t a caregiver present (such as during elopement episodes).

Article by: EmilieAnne Misamore and The Autism Toolkit

Sources

https://watersafetywithmissdayna.com/

https://watersafetywithmissdayna.com/water-safety-for-children-with-autism

https://watersafetywithmissdayna.com/make-your-safety-plan